Connection
by Jaiaelle
Summary: Post Instinct, Chloe and Lois have a conversation.


**Post-Instinct. Read and review, please. Constructive criticism is always welcome - especially for this piece. It came out differently than I intended so I would love for some honest and positive feedback. Thank you!**

A connection?

Lois Lane tried to scoff at the idea but found she couldn't. The red haired meteor harlot's words rang through her head days after they had been said. The truth was…well, the truth was not something she felt like facing. It was with those words echoing in her mind that Lois collapsed on the couch in the living room at the apartment she still shared with Chloe and Jimmy, longing to simply lose herself in hours of mindless TV after a long day of working in such close proximity with the man she had some supposed "connection" to. Unfortunately, the attempt at mindless solitude was interrupted by Chloe almost falling into the apartment, Jimmy's lips pressed against her in the middle of a passionate kiss.

"Could you please refrain from doing that while I'm around?"

The couple separated, Chloe looking guilty and Jimmy grinning like an idiot. "Sorry Lo…" Chloe trailed off as she noticed the look on her cousin's face. Grabbing Jimmy by the collar of his shirt, she yanked him down, whispered something into his ear, then patted him on his back as he vacated the living space, heading to the empty downstairs. "So…" began Chloe coyly. "What's up?" She pushed Lois' legs off the end of the couch and plopped down, trying to keep the concern she felt from flooding her eyes.

Oblivious to what her cousin was doing, Lois grunted. After a few minutes of listening, though neither was actually paying attention, to the TV, Lois muted the sound and turned toward her cousin. "Do you still have feelings for Clark?"

Caught off guard, Chloe almost choked. "Wh-what?"

"Look, Chlo, I know you wrote him some letter years ago…"

Clearly surprised, Chloe regarded Lois for a minute, hearing in the tone of the other woman's voice how vitally important the answer was. "I loved him once Lois. I wrote that letter… I, uh, _felt_ that letter for a long time. But I only view Clark as friend now."

Shifting in position, Lois sat up and twisted the top portion of her body so she was facing Chloe. "How can you have such intense feelings for some one and then they, I don't know, all of sudden disappear?"

After a hesitation, in which Lois was sure that Chloe was about to declare her undying love for Clark Kent, Chloe said, "Well, you loved Oliver at one point, right? And just recently you thought that those feelings weren't entirely gone."

Swallowing hard, Lois dropped her eyes and tucked her hands under legs. "I'm pretty sure that watching Ollie suffer had something to do with the supposed revitalization of my feelings. Now…well, I know that I don't love him anymore. He'll always have a special place in my heart, though."

A small smile flitted across Chloe's face as she nodded at Lois' words. "Exactly. I loved Clark, wanted to be more than friends with him. Now, I love him, but as my friend, as my best friend. Even if Jimmy hadn't come along, I'm sure that I would still be in this place now, loving Clark as my best friend, as my family. But, like you with Oliver, Clark will always have a special place in my heart."

Vulnerable eyes gazed at Chloe, gauging to see if the words were truth. When Chloe didn't waver or flinch, a smile spread across Lois' face. "How would you feel if…if Clark met someone new?"

One eyebrow raised in response to Lois' question and Chloe held back the laughter that was bubbling in her stomach. Could it be possible that _Lois Lane_ was experiencing feelings beyond mentor for one Clark Kent? "Well, if I felt she was deserving of him, then I would be all for it."

Lois nodded once, then looked back at the television screen, eyes watering. "He'll find her eventually."

"He will," whispered Chloe, as Lois unmuted the TV, the sound blaring out once more. Taking that as her cue to go get Jimmy, she stood and headed toward the door. Upon reaching it, she placed a hand on the doorknob then cast a glance over her shoulder at the lounging Lois. "Or maybe he already has," she said in hushed tones, before opening the door and heading out.

Once Chloe was gone, Lois tried to quell her beating heart but found it was nigh impossible. Cursing that stupid meteor freak, and all meteor freaks in general, and one man who was just a freak-wearing-plaid, Lois turned up the volume on the television, as if that could help her mind to stop wandering over the events that had taken place a few days earlier.

A connection?

No way. And even if so, Lois knew that she wasn't the right girl for Clark, knew she wasn't part of his destiny, knew she didn't deserve him.

With trembling lips and watering eyes, she stared blankly at the television screen as a voice whispered in her heart, "You know that's not true. Why wouldn't you be worthy of being in a relationship with Clark Kent? There _is _a connection. Stop trying to deny it."

And yet, that's just what she did. Denied it and pushed it to the back of her mind, hoping to quell the small desire she had to be so much more to one Clark Kent...


End file.
